“Gemalto has decided to expand its business here in Singapore because of the high quality of local staff, the excellent logistics, and strong support and cooperation with the government, which allow us to serve the growing Asian market,” said Olivier Piou, CEO Gemalto. The expansion program, to be rolled out in phases over the next five years, will more than double its overall production capacity. Located at Ayer Rajah Crescent, Gemalto’s Singapore facilities include smart card manufacturing, R & D and Sales and Marketing for the region. Gemalto has the largest R & D team in the industry, with over 1,500 R & D engineers globally, and a dedicated team in Singapore since 1997. Gemalto’s continued commitment to investing in Singapore is testament to the excellent collaboration and working relationship with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), dating back to 17 years ago when the company set up its first Regional Headquarters in the country. The Singapore office has grown its business with more than 700 employees, and local investments exceeding S$200 million. Its state of the art facilities in Singapore is already a key manufacturing hub for microprocessor cards for telecommunications, financial services & retail, identity management, IT security and public sector. “According to this year’s study by AT Kearney and Foreign Policy magazine, Singapore has once again been ranked the most globalized country. It has proven to be a remarkable testing ground for advanced smart card technologies and applications, and we have been proud to be part of that development. The most recent example is the Singapore BioPass – the biometric passport that uses Gemalto’s security technology,” said Olivier Piou. ‘’EDB has played a key role in promoting our development in Singapore over the last 17 years. Our latest decision to reinforce our capacity, equipment and facilities underscores our confidence in Asia as a promising and growing market,’’ he added. Janet.loh-tk@gemalto.com www.gemalto.com